How to Make Refried Beans

Instead of reaching for the prepared can at the supermarket, learn how to make refried beans for your next Mexican meal. When cooked from scratch, this dish will be lower in fat and sodium than the canned convenience product. Refried beans are an ideal side dish for tacos, but they can also be used inside tortillas or as part of a layered dip.
Traditionally, pinto beans are used for refried beans; however, black or red beans can be substituted. While canned beans are perhaps the easiest option, dry beans aren't that much more difficult--plus they're much less expensive. Simply soak the beans per package directions prior to using.
Beans are part of the legume family, which also includes peas, lentils and peanuts. They're a great source of protein: Just one cup of beans provides as much as 16 grams. According to the USDA's nutritional guidelines, beans satisfy requirements of both the protein and vegetable groups. Beans are also an excellent source of fiber and nutrients such as folate and potassium.

Hi, everyone. I'm Judith. Well, today I'll be showing you
how to make frijoles protein-packed and full of fiber really
health and delicious. So what you'll need is 2-1/2 teaspoons
of salt, 1 pound of dried pinto beans, 1 tablespoon
of olive oil, 1/4 pound of salt pork with the
rind removed or sliced bacon finely chopped. Today, we'll be
using sliced bacon. 1 cup of chopped onions, 1 serrano
or jalapeño chili seeded and finely chopped. Today, we'll be
using jalapeño. 1 tablespoon of finely chopped garlic, 6 cups
of water and 1/4 teaspoon of cumin seed. Alright, so
for our frijoles, we soaked these dried pinto beans according
to package instructions. If you wanna use black beans, that's
fine too. Frijoles are either pinto beans or black beans.
So, they are all nice and soft and ready to
go. So, in our Dutch oven next to us, we
have it on medium high heat. I'm gonna put some
of that oil in there. Let that get hot and
we're gonna cook our bacon or our pork which I'll
be using until it gets nice and brown. So, our
bacon is browned nicely on a high heat there. So,
let's turn the heat to a medium and we're gonna
add now the chopped onions and our pepper in there.
And we're gonna cook that for about 4 minutes. So,
the onion and the chili has been cooking for about
4 minutes and now we're gonna add in our garlic.
So we always have the garlic in right in the
last minute because if you let the garlic burn or
cook too much, it becomes very bitter and you don't
want that bitter taste in your dish. So we're gonna
cook that garlic for 1 minute more with the rest
of the ingredients. Alright, so now it's time to add
in our beans. Now, make sure you drain your beans
after soaking them so they're all prepared. So we're gonna
put in the beans into the mix. Add in the
cumin seed and that's just gonna give wonderful flavor to
the whole pot and then, of course, the water. Lovely.
So we're gonna bring that to a boil now. And
once it's boiling, we're then gonna reduce the heat to
a medium low to a simmer more or less. We're
gonna let it simmer for about 30 minutes with the
lid on. After 30 minutes, we're then gonna add in
some salt to taste and we're gonna simmer it for
another 30 minutes more. So, our frijoles have been simmering
for a total of about an hour, an hour and
5 to 10 minutes and they are-- it's done now,
beautiful to perfection. So let's just bowl that up. And
remember, halfway through at 30 minutes, we added some salt
to taste. And that just looks gorgeous. You've got that
lovely saltiness of the bacon, that cumin flavor. Oh! Serve
it up with a nice piece of chicken or pork
and that is gonna be one great dinner. So there
you go, that's how you make frijoles.